With the advent of widescreen displays in which the display screen has an aspect ratio of 16:9 and a plurality of video-stream aspect ratios, there are often black bands typically above and below the displayed image of the video stream or alternately to the left and right of the displayed image of the video stream. For example, when viewing a video stream with a larger aspect ratio than the display it is being viewed on, these black bands appear above and below the centered image of the video stream to produce what is informally known as a letterbox image. When viewing a video stream with a smaller aspect ratio than the display it is being viewed on, these black bands appear to the left and the right of the centered image of the video stream. In those cases where the video stream and the display have the same aspect ratio, no black bands occur.
This current method of centering the displayed image of the video stream when the aspect ratio of the video stream and the display are different can lead to uneven aging of pixels and possible pixel burnout on cathode ray tube (CRT) high definition televisions (HDTVs) and plasma screens. The uneven aging of pixels is observable as burned-in images of the bars bracketing the letterbox image and additional burn in effects in the area where the image is displayed. The bars may eventually “burn” into the screen, becoming visible when an image of a different aspect ratio is viewed. CRT screens and plasma screens are both susceptible to burn-in. Conversion circuitry that is capable of expanding a displayed image both horizontally and vertically may be used to eliminate the black bands. The conversion circuitry typically alters the image's aspect ratio to match that of the screen to eliminate the bars; however, this will result in distorted unnatural looking images. Therefore there is a need to improve the displaying of images with aspect ratios that are different than the aspect ratio of the display component.